Email Forwarding

[Operator]

Update: I have the "new" version of the website running on the new host, in addition to the new forum.  The registration app will require some tweaking, and I need to find a way to export all the registration data to the new site.  However, all this is stuff that should take mere hours instead of days.

So...here's the news.  I'm going to open this new forum up for users.  (I can't copy over the user data from the old forum; sorry. )  I'll be making announcements on both forums for a while.

At the end of August, I'm going to officially move www.vmsc.org to the new hosting service, which will render the old forum and the "old" version of the site completely dead.  I've backed up all the files from the old version of the site, so anything that also belongs on the new version will get copied over.  Until then, folks who like living on the bleeding edge can access the "new" version of the site at http://70.96.188.37/~vmscorg/.  Once I make the switch (on or about September 1st), if you attempt to go to http://www.vmsc.org/, you'll get this spiffy new version.

[Edited on 26-8-2005 by Operator]

[Edited on 2005-9-2 by Operator]

[Operator]

Wheee...the transfer process is finally over!  On Saturday 03 September 2005, the domain vmsc.org officially transferred to the new host.  There were some minor login glitches where, if you tried to log in from vmsc.org, it wouldn't recognize you.  That problem has been fixed; however, now the old address won't work.  Please point your browsers at http://www.vmsc.org/ from now on.

[Operator]

Update: At the top of the forum screen, in addition to the links that relate to the forum, there are now two other links of interest.

• Back to: takes you to the main page of the VMSC website.
• VMSC Event Registration takes you directly to the online pre-registration app.  You will still have to log in with your Registration user ID and password.

Happy browsing...

[Operator]

At the general membership meeting last night, we discussed the possibility that, at some point in the future, someone might post "inappropriate" content to the forums.

If you read something in the forum that you believe to be inappropriate, click the icon next to the offending post.  This will allow you to report such content directly to the moderators and operators.

Thank you.

[Operator]

I have set up a set of official vmsc.org email addresses for members of the Board.  Currently, the following positions are accessible:

• President: president@vmsc.org
• 1st Vice President: competition@vmsc.org
• 2nd Vice President: events@vmsc.org
• Treasurer: treasurer@vmsc.org
• Secretary: secretary@vmsc.org
• Checkpoints Editor: checkpoints@vmsc.org
• Merchandising: merchandising@vmsc.org
• Membership: membership@vmsc.org
• Timing and Scoring: timing@vmsc.org
• Webmaster: operator@vmsc.org
• Inter-Club Relations: publicrelations@vmsc.org

Links to these addresses are posted on the front page of the website.  The destination of each address will be adjusted after each election.

Board members, if you would like to set up any of these addresses as an outbound mail address, send me an email or U2U and I'll get a full email account established.  You can then configure your email client to check those mailboxes.  (Incoming mail to those addresses would still be forwarded to your personal address.)

[Operator]

Several people have called for an expansion of the web site administration staff.  I'll go with that.  However, I don't want to pass sensitive userids/passwords over email.  Please meet me at the registration desk at the Dec. 11 autoX or at the Dec. 15 membership meeting, and I'll provide all the necessary login info.

[Operator]

Our web host, bluehost.com, has recently been the target of a widely-distributed denial-of-service attack.  If you have experienced problems accessing the site, it's because of some bored jackholes with nothing better to do.  Pity the poor losers who feel compelled to do such things.  Bluehost is investigating the sources of the attacks, and service is normal.

Excerpt from support email:
Today we experienced several MAJOR distributed denial
of service attacks against our network. We regret that
you experienced some downtime today. We have worked
diligently today to further protect our network from
these types of attacks. The attack today came from
MANY different computers at the same time. This makes
it difficult to block and resolve the issue.

[Operator]

I just completed the one-year renewal of this site's hosting agreement on bluehost.com.

Time flies.  :omg:

[Operator]

Registration of new forum accounts now requires confirmation via email.

Several hundred dummy forum accounts have been deleted.  By hand.

It turns out, there is a spell-checker feature now.  It has been enabled.  (Thanks to Grant for making me look for this.)